The United Nations approves an important report on climate change
A summary of the report was approved early on Sunday, but it took several hours for the full document to receive the stamp of approval.
Governments around the world approved a major new United Nations (UN) report on climate change on Sunday, though the process has been slowed by a dispute between wealthy and developing countries. on emissions targets and financial assistance to vulnerable nations.
The report, written by hundreds of the world's best scientists, was due to be approved by government delegations on Friday at the end of a meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland.
The end of the meeting has however been postponed several times, as delegates from some major nations, such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the European Union, have negotiated throughout the weekend on the formulation of the key phrases of the text.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report summarizes extensive research on global warming compiled since the Paris climate agreement in 2015.
< p class="e-p">A summary of the report was approved early Sunday, but it took several hours for the full document to receive the stamp of approval.
The UN plans to release the report at a Monday afternoon press conference.
The unusual process of having a scientific report approved by member countries is intended to ensure that governments accept its findings and then guide their own decisions.
At the start of the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on delegates to provide hard, hard facts to make it clear that there is little time left for the world to limit global warming. at 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the Nations united.(File photo)
While average global temperatures have already risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century, Mr. Guterres insisted that the target limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius remains possible with rapid and deep reductions in emissions in all sectors of the global economy.
One of the thorniest issues of this week's meeting was how to define which nations are considered countries. developing countries, making them eligible to receive sums from a loss and damage fund agreed at the last UN climate talks in Egypt.
Delegates also struggled to agree on numbers that will determine how much greenhouse gas emissions will need to be cut over the next few years to meet the 1.5 degree Celsius target.
As a country that rejected the greatest amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since industrialization, the United States has strongly pushed back against the notion of historical responsibility for climate change.
